Free Republic

Lawyers for billionaire Beanie Baby creator and convicted tax cheat Ty Warner say he’s “a self-made man with a generous heart” and a federal judge was right not to send him to the big house. Prosecutors were left fuming in January after Warner was handed just two years probation and 500 hours community service for hiding $100 million in secret Swiss bank accounts to con the IRS. In February, they asked the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to order Warner be resentenced. But attorneys for the 69-year-old Oak Brook toy industry titan argued in a 57-page court filing Thursday...

It’s a monkey miracle — Bongo has been found! An Upper East Side couple grieving over the loss of a stuffed toy monkey they’ve raised like a son the past decade went bananas with joy Saturday night after being reunited with their beloved Beanie Baby. "I never gave up hope — I prayed, mediated, and now he’s with us again," said Bonni Marcus, 47, who along with boyfriend Jack Zinzi, 58, were devastated after losing Bongo on their way to a restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn, on August 1. The 8-inch-tall doll was found Tuesday by Luis Barreto, 61, an...

Where, oh where, have the little dogs gone? The little dog dolls, that is. Bo, a Beanie Baby version of Barack Obama’s new presidential pooch, has been disappearing from shelves within hours of his arrival in stores. He has also become eBay’s latest pet project, with purchasers seeking double the doll’s $4.99 retail price online minutes after they buy it through retail outlets. Some are even asking more than $100.

WASHINGTON, July 31, 2005 – What started out as a simple family project for an Arizona teenager has blossomed - make that snowballed - into a huge operation that's about to send the 50,000th Beanie Baby doll to troops in Iraq to distribute to local children. Fourteen-year-old Alison Goulder is still at it, continuing a project to collect the stuffed critters for U.S. troops. The soon-to-be-ninth-grader got the idea when she read in a magazine about Operation Grateful, an effort by law firm Greenberg Traurig to send care packages to troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and Germany. The magazine quoted Joe...

Sat Apr 19, 6:42 PM ET This is a product photograph of 'HERO Beanie Baby' as provided by the manufacturer, Ty, Saturday, April 19, 2003 in New York. HERO, a Beanie Baby bear with a camouflage body and an American flag embroidered on one arm, will be available at authorized Ty